As the use of telecommunication and the desire for higher speed data transfer is increased, new technologies for making higher speed communication device and systems are developed. For example, for short-range communications, wireless gigabit alliance (WiGig) protocol is viewed as a complement for high-speed Wi-Fi that can address short-range communication needs. The WiGig specification allows devices to communicate wirelessly at multi-gigabit speeds at 60 GHz. High performance wireless data display and audio applications can be enabled that supplement the capabilities of previous wireless LAN devices.
The WiGig technology at 60 GHz used for the latest wireless systems provides high-speed point-to-point connections, for example, for high definition and 3D TV signals from the set-top-box to a large screen TV. Further, the 60 GHz technology, built into smartphones and other portable devices, allows transfer of HD video from a portable device to a TV screen for display. Accordingly, there is a need for compact, low price, and broadband antennas for WiGig-enabled wireless devices.
To achieve the increased capacity offered by the wide bandwidth of a 60 GHz implementation, some of the losses associated with reduced wavelength need to be overcome, for example, by using multiple (e.g., 16 or 32) elements in a phased array. Time-division duplexing (TDD) systems operate as a transmitter (TX) or a receiver (RX) at any point in time. This implies blocks that are dedicated to operate in TX mode are unused in RX mode and blocks that are dedicated to operate in RX mode are unused in TX mode.